Should You Give it Away for Free?

Everyone loves a good freebie. Myself included! As a teacher, I would scrounge around for anything I could find to work with my kids. Funds were small and student needs were greatly varied. I found free things, and I paid for resources. I believe we should give back to teachers. Most teachers work hard at their profession and giving back feels great! But I feel that we should think through why we are providing a free resource.

I have some thoughts on freebies.

If you post it to your store as free, it should stay free. Some people call them Forever Freebies. Now I do think it is different if you post something for free, decide to add to it, and price it after that. Although the free piece could lead to the larger paid product.

No more than 10% of products in your store set to FREE. This is just a general rule. Some have less, some have more. I personally keep mine at or below this number. I do provide freebies on my blog and Facebook that are not posted in my store.

Giving a product away for free just to get feedback is NOT a good move. Many people don't give feedback on free products. Some people leave poor feedback on freebies. In both of these situations, sellers often get upset because "IT WAS FREE FOR GOODNESS SAKES!" Save yourself the drama.

Feedback or follower challenge freebies - If I get X number of followers/feedback, I'll give more away for free. I don't understand this concept as I want my followers and feedback to be genuine.  

Setting a product to free for X number of hours after first posting just to get feedback - NOT a good idea. People will buy your product even if it doesn't have feedback. There are people who will never buy anything from you because they will catch your posting and get it for free every time.

Flash Freebies - These can be fine as long as you aren't doing these every time you turn around. An occasional, unexpected Flash Freebie won't hurt you. Maybe you want to celebrate a personal milestone once in awhile. That would be okay. If you do them every Friday, people will stop buying because they can get something from your store every Friday.

Provide some freebies in your store. Provide a freebie here and there on Facebook. Provide freebies on your blog. Give back to teachers! Just be mindful of how many freebies you are offering along the way. Think about WHY you are providing the freebie - to gain a follower, to gain feedback, to show the quality of your work, or to give back. We are all on this journey together. When freebies are handled in a thoughtful way it helps everyone.